Insulation by means of loose wool is employed primarily on floor structures. Its use has increased markedly over the past ten years and makes the insulation operation very fast and highly rational, this giving relatively low costs. Moreover, loose-wool insulation is considered to yield excellent insulation results.
The loose wool is normally delivered compacted in bags weighing about 11 kg to contractors performing the insulation work, i.e. the fluffing of the loose wool and the distribution thereof on the location concerned.
The contractor often has a specially-equipped truck, on the platform of which loose-wool fluffing and onward-blow equipment is mounted. On the truck platform are also transported a large number of units, hereinafter referred to as bags, containing compacted loose wool to the site of the insulation operation, which is carried out by two operators manning the truck. One operator, standing on the truck platform, is engaged in moving out and cutting open bags and emptying their contents into the above-mentioned equipment, to which a hose has been connected and pulled up on the floor structure to be insulated. There, the other operator is engaged in spreading the loose wool, i.e. in controlling the placement of the loose wool by manipulating the hose end.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,280 discloses equipment for blowing insulation from a supply bin through a distributing hose for placement in a desired area. The supply bin has parallel screw conveyors occupying substantially the entire area of its bottom and serving to supply the loose insulation to a further screw conveyor which advances the insulation to a blower for blowing the insulation through the distributing hose. The operations of the conveyors and the blower are responsive to a separate controller remotely locatable at the distributing nozzle of the distributing hose, whereby a single operator can control the entire operation.
GB 2,072,352 discloses an apparatus for installing insulation comprising a vehicle having a floor structure for storing insulation bales thereon and a blower at the end of the floor structure, the bales being moved toward the blower by means of a movable floor. A first operator loads bales into the blower which blows the insulation through a hose operated by a second operator.